A selection of Swiss startups – selected by the “Institut fuer Jungunternehmer” – toured through China to meet potential partners, customers and investors. The tour organized in collaboration with Swissnex China made stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, where Switzerland’s top startups would pitch to anyone interested. Furthermore there was plenty of time for 1-on-1 meetings with local companies.

In Shenzhen, an interesting program was put together in collaboration with the Shenzhen Investment Promotion Agency – a visit to two high-tech companies in Shenzhen and a networking evening with presentations by the organizers and the startups. The Hong Kong Science Park introduced all the advantages of establishing business in the former British colony.

Two of the visiting companies are strongly related to Japan: The EPFL spinoff Nanolive was highlighted at this year’s Swiss Medtech Pavilion at MEDTEC Japan 2015 where they introduced their live-cell observing microscope to the Japanese market and the young ETH Zurich spinoff Battrion is in contact with battery makers in both China and Japan for future business.

The S&T Counsellors from Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo and the CEO from Swissnex China met in Shenzhen to discuss future closer collaborations to increase the value for our Swiss stakeholders in Asia. The next joint CJK-event will take place in December in Switzerland – a follow-up event to the startup-related event that took place in Zurich in July.
Last but not least, the discussions with the two Ventureleaders founders, Mr. Beat Schillig and Mr. Jordi Montserrat, proved to be very fruitful and plans for the extension of their program, with China this time for example, to Korea and Japan are currently under preparation.